E-Learning Course: IP networks

The Internet has revolutionised modern communications. With the convergence of voice, video and data services, the trend is for telecommunications providers to use the same technologies that underpin the Internet to provide all telecoms services.

This course introduces the principles of operation of networks that employ the suite of protocols that were originally designed for the Internet but are now widely used in wide area networks generally.

The course begins by describing the Internet infrastructure and the role of the organisations involved in the running of the Internet. Commercial aspects of the interconnection of the networks that make up the Internet are also discussed. The course then describes the role and operation of the various protocols that are employed on the Internet including IP, TCP, UDP and HTTP. The concept, advantages and administration of IP addresses are described. The translation between web links (URLs) and IP addresses is also explained. The way in which traffic is routed over the Internet is explained with reference to the operation of routers and route discovery protocols.

Course prerequisites:

An understanding of the basic principles of packet switching. It is recommended that the PTT e-learning course SRC: "Data communication principles" is studied before attempting this IP Networks course.

Course objectives:

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• describe the basic structure of the Internet, the role of the various Internet administrative bodies and the role of Internet service providers. 
• describe the role of ISP transit services and peering arrangements.
• explain the various ways in which the security of information stored on, or transferred over, the Internet can be compromised.
• explain the concept and advantages of connectionless operation.
• describe the role, operation and facilities offered by the Internet Protocol (IP).
• explain the concept, advantages and implementation of IP addressing, the concept and role of port numbers, and the role and operation of network address translation.
• describe the role and administration of the domain name system.
• explain the operation of the domain name system with reference to ways of minimising its vulnerabilities to malicious use.
• describe the role and operation of the Transmission Control and User Datagram protocols (TCP and UDP) with reference to the security of TCP connections.
• describe the use of other Internet protocols in applications such as web browsing, emailing, file transfer, and multicasting with reference to the ways of improving the security of data transfer.